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Mortality of people suffering from mental illness: a study of a cohort of patients hospitalised in psychiatry in the North of France

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Abstract

Background

The mortality of people suffering from psychiatric illnesses is far higher than that of the general population, all categories of diagnosis combined; mortality statistics can be used as an index of quality of care. The aim of this study was to assess the all-cause mortality in psychiatric patients covering all diagnostic groups.

Methods

The living or deceased status of 4,417 patients of majority age hospitalised in a public mental health establishment between 2004 and 2007 were requested from French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies on 1st January 2011. The cause of death of those people who had died was obtained from French National Institute for Health and Medical Research and comparative standardized mortality ratios (SMR) were established from the population in a region of northern France of the same age in 2006.

Results

The study population was made up of 54 % men and 46 % women, median age 41 and 45 years old, respectively. Four hundred and seventy-three people died during the period studied. The SMR were 421 for men (95 % CI 378–470) and 330 for women (95 % CI 281–388). The highest SMRs were found in patients aged 35–54, with a 20-time higher mortality risk than the general population of the same age.

Conclusion

Our study confirms the considerably higher mortality in psychiatric patients than in general population, particularly in mean age and mostly due to an unnatural cause.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank all hospital directors of Nord-Pas-De-Calais region who have financially supported this work. The authors also want to thank Christian Porteaux, computer scientist, for having collected data.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federation of Mental Health Research, 3 rue Malpart, 59000, Lille, France

    Claire-Lise Charrel, Laurent Plancke, Michaël Genin, François Ducrocq, Guillaume Vaiva & Thierry Danel

  2. Public Mental Health Establishment Lille-Metropole, rue du Général Leclerc, 59487, Armentières Cedex, France

    Claire-Lise Charrel & Laurent Defromont

  3. Biostatistics Unit, EA2694, University and Hospital of Lille Nord de France, 59000, Lille, France

    Michaël Genin

  4. Medical University Hospital, 2 Avenue Oscar Lambret, 59000, Lille, France

    François Ducrocq, Guillaume Vaiva & Thierry Danel

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  1. Claire-Lise Charrel
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  2. Laurent Plancke
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  3. Michaël Genin
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Correspondence to Claire-Lise Charrel.

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Charrel, CL., Plancke, L., Genin, M. et al. Mortality of people suffering from mental illness: a study of a cohort of patients hospitalised in psychiatry in the North of France. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 50, 269–277 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0913-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0913-1

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